Something a little lighter is in order I think after all that brain-numbing serious talk. (The Hammer Time! series, d'oh.) Nowadays the lighter side--not to suggest the frequently more idiotic side as well--most often means a visit to the 800 lb. gorilla of paintball chatter, PBN. At least it did for today's foray into Not In The Paintball News.
First up is the latest round of shoot & sniff paintballs in a Jelly Belly assortment of scents available in 100 rd. test bags. Well, not exactly. There are, apparently, a whole bunch of different scents available but not as a mixed assortment. A Jelly Belly assortment of mixed scent paintballs would probably be better. Anyway, I still don't get it. How long can the novelty value last? Is this stuff being marketed to girls or have the man parts of today's youthful male failed to drop leaving them susceptible to this kind of silliness? Hey, just asking. I don't know about the rest of y'all but I like my paintballs round and I want them to break on stuff I shoot leaving an opaque Day Glo splatter of paint. And if they don't do that I want something else that does. If it doesn't perform to basic paintball standards what difference does it make if it smells like strawberries or even a porterhouse steak? And if it is a decent paintball I still don't understand who is going to go out of their way to insist on lemon creme. Now if they could make a paintball that tasted like donuts they'd be on to something.
Item two revolves around number stickers for hoppers. You see, in the PSP, as a way of aiding in stat collection all the pro players have their player number on their hoppers now--usually big white numbers on black shells. Well, it seems divisional kids who appear in the finals on the webcast on Sundays get numbers for their hoppers too and it's become something of a point of pride--at least among a vocal faction--that not just anybody earns those numbers. Consequently anyone who would put the numbers on their hopper without earning them is a poseur and worthy of derision if not ostracism. So is it a symbol of achievement or a status symbol for divisional players or a little bit of both? I didn't think most divisional teams even bothered with player numbers. Is that on the rise too? Do div teams that consider themselves serious contenders have individual player numbers--or am I just outta the loop on this one? Am I blowing this out of proportion or is really kind of a big deal? Heck, there was a time too when having a PSP (or NPPL) ID was a big deal too.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
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16 comments:
lol kids spend more time customizing their gear over here in Asia then they do playing paintball. I little bit of a cultural thing because they love their bling over here. And with more photo/video coverage of even lowly ranked divisional games, everyone wants to look like they're PRO and do some self promo via social media!!!
We deff see that at the local field. Imperial won a few events and obviously had stickers on there hoppers while at practice. After that we started seeing kids get there own custom numbers put on, but I noticed the PSP started putting their logo on the numbers they give out.
Kind of like a badge of accomplishment, IMO.
On the comment of divisional players with numbers, having numbers on your jersey or equipment is a good idea even if it is just for the referees or photographers to be able to tell who you are quickly and at a distant. I'm an umpire myself, and I know that numbers help with identifying players I'm not going to remember each face or player's style/stature in a men's or a high school game. If the players/teams are going to take it upon themselves to offer this convenience to the league/refs on their jersey, why criticize it. Now the whole hopper thing, I don't think it really bothers a mention, as I believe you have pointed out.
Ben
No criticism intended. It just seemed to follow that if the div players are taking pride in receiving their hopper numbers that at some point they will want individual player numbers in advance just to be prepared, if nothing else.
I view the REAL stickers(not the ones the Dye made when they noticed people wanting them) as a symbol of achievement. If you're able to make it to a PSP final, whether it be in D4 or D1, it's an accomplishment and something you should be proud of. I don't really care about those kids that put stickers on because "all the cool kids are doing it," but it does make me wonder if they really need to try that hard to fit in.
I've been noticing more local kids at the field putting numbers on their hoppers but that's probably because they see the x-factor guys at the field with them
Most divisional players have numbers within their teams. Why is that surprising at all?!? Isn't competitive paintball at the PSP level a sport? Everyone in any team sport has a number. This should be a rule if you think about it, as it makes it easier for refs to identify players. Furthermore, I don't see why kids who have not played in a PSP finals match putting numbers on their hoppers is a big deal. Why bash people for this? It is not any different then any other fashion trend in this sport i.e. Sandanas, or any trend in any other sport. Dye sells them at events, granted they aren't the official PSP numbers, but they see a way to make money and make players who want to put their number on their hopper happy. So what?
Zach, I'm with you on this, though I will judge people who haven't been to a finals(or better yet even a PSP) for doing it until it becomes a standard based on rules. In my opinion if you have to try that hard to look cool and fit in with the rest of your area's players, you're obviously too focused on looks and not the game. I won't bash anyone for doing stuff like that, just like I don't bash hk army agglets, but I'll judge them for it 24/7. :P People need to create their own identity and learn to be individuals, stop caring about how everyone else looks and worry more about how many times you shoot them.
Also, I'm just talking about hopper numbers, as long as I have a choice I'll have a number on the back of my jersey.
While all these things may be true, people want to look cool and it looks cool these days. Back in the day guys with lots of stickers were the ones who played nppl (pre split) because th went to the trade show and had vendors giving them stickers to wear. In some sense only the handful of a couple hundred connected guys were stickered up. It was he pro-sponsored look. People imitated it like crazy. So it's no surprise that this is imitated. Although it's funny the "pro" stickers are being praised and not the for sale ones... The original pro ones suck in terms of quality.
Anywho, where's the conspiracy theory that says dye just wants to eventually force everyone to buy their stickers with their rule that it has to be exactly to the specs that they happen to sell....
#kidding
who cares. It's stickers. If they were selling for $100 each it might be interesting, but they're not.
Is player numbers on divisional players jerseys really that odd? Mostly all teams here in Sweden as well in Millennium-series have name and numbers on their jerseys.
Also in the Swedish series in the open/cpl division all players are required numbers on their hoppers because of new penalty rules. (5 penalty points and you get a match suspension etc).
I don't think it's an odd sight on divisional jerseys, but hopper numbers is a rapidly growing craze here. Feel free to be the European hipster who has hopper stickers before everyone else in Europe. >.>
Plovell, would you judge adult divisional players for doing this? What if they are just doing it to make it easier on ref's/score keepers? If you wouldn't judge adults, why judge kids?
We have been lucky to have had several appearances on the pro field Sunday in the last couple season. only those players who have earned the opportunity to put those numbers on their hopper are permitted to keep them. If you haven't been there Sunday you have no reason to put them on.
You want a number on your hopper? put in the time, effort, money and sacrifice to have that privilege.
So you guys only keep the numbers between tournaments? And if you dont make the profield the next one you take them off again since you no longer deserve them?
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